Estrella Carrera

 On 11 May 2012, 26-year-old Estrella Carrera surprised everyone in her life when she announced that she was getting married to 30-year-old Arnoldo Jimenez. The two had a child together, but their tumultuous relationship had gone through several hiccups during the three years that they were together. However, the day after the wedding, Estrella failed to pick up her two kids from her father's home in Chicago…

Hey everyone. Before we begin this episode, I just want to add a small little editorial note at the top.

If you or anyone you know is currently living in a dangerous or unsafe environment, please know that it's okay to get help. I know it won't be easy - very few good things in life are, I've found - but it might be necessary.

I know it might not feel like it at times, but there are people out there who care about you and want you to remain safe. So, if you live in a household where violence is something you or a loved one has to endure, please reach out to someone, whether it be someone you know - such as a friend or family member - or even law enforcement or a local crisis center. Someone. Anyone.

Please, just whatever you do, please don't listen to a story like this in vain. Please look out for the safety of yourself and those you love.

On Sunday, May 13th, 2012, police in Burbank, Illinois received a call from a woman who wanted them to check in on her brother's wife. She kept the call rather brief, not giving up much detail, but said that her brother and his wife had gotten into an argument, and she was worried that something may have happened to her.

So, as they typically would, officers with the Burbank Police Department followed through with a wellness check, dropping by the woman's home in Burbank, not too far away from Chicago. There, officers encountered family members of the woman, who hadn't seen her in nearly two days... which, coincidentally, had been her wedding day, in addition to being the last time she'd been seen by any of her family or friends.

After learning this, officers decided to enter the woman's condo, located on the third floor of the tri-level brick building

This is the story of Estrella Carrera.

Estrella Carrera was born on February 5th, 1986, to her parents Antonio and Antonia, as one of just five children. While not much about her early life is publicly known, we do know that Estrella grew up in the Chicago area, and eventually settled in Burbank, a suburb on the southern outskirts of Chicago, where she lived with her two children.

Estrella had a daughter from a prior relationship, who was eight years old as of May of 2012 (although some publications report her as nine at the time). She also had a two-year-old son with her partner at the time, Arnoldo Jimenez, with whom she had a rather-tumultuous relationship with. The two reportedly met at a nightclub through mutual friends and would continue to date on-and-off despite some hiccups.

In interviews with various publications, Estrella has been described by her family members as both outgoing and independent; someone that insisted on charting her own path in life, but was also friendly, smart, kind, capable, and incredibly funny with those she knew and trusted. She was also very involved in her children's lives, dedicating as much time to them as possible, working hard to ensure that her daughter got straight A's on every report card. For a living, she worked as a Spanish-language translator for a social welfare agency.

Sandy Lopez, one of Estrella's cousins, described her to the Chicago Tribune:

"She was a beautiful mother, person, sister."

Her uncle, Pedro Terazas, said to CBS News:

"She was real friendly to everyone."

Estrella moved into her apartment, along the 7800 block of South Rutherford Avenue, in the early months of 2012, and hadn't yet had time to get to know many of her neighbors. One of the few, Jason Tokarczyk, who'd helped Estrella when she accidentally locked herself out, said to reporters with the Chicago Tribune:

"She was quiet as a mouse."

On Friday, May 11th, 2012, 26-year-old Estrella Carrera surprised everyone in her life when she announced that she was getting married. She and her longtime partner, 30-year-old Arnoldo Jimenez, had reportedly been planning the event since May 2nd, when they applied for a marriage license. However, they wouldn't tell anyone in their lives about it until last minute... in certain cases, without exaggeration, the last possible minute.

This took everyone by surprise because - while Estrella and Arnoldo had dated on and off again for the past three years - not everyone knew that they had gotten back together again recently, let alone been planning a marriage. So this marriage was a surprise in more than one way: not only was Estrella getting married, but she was back together with a the father of her youngest child.

Sandy Lopez, one of Estrella's cousins and close friends, told reporters with the Chicago Tribune that Estrella called her that Friday, inviting her out to a party, but said nothing about a wedding:

"She didn't want to tell me she had gotten married. She didn't tell anybody besides her father the day before."

Jaime Lopez, another one of Estrella's cousins, said in the same Chicago Tribune article:

"This just happened out of nowhere. It was so fast I couldn't even make it to the celebration."

Jazmin Carrera, Estrella's sister, said she had been invited via text message at the last minute, and wasn't able to attend the celebration after the wedding, which took place at a restaurant and nightclub, stating:

"It was just all of a sudden. She didn't give us enough notice."

The small marriage ceremony took place at Chicago City Hall and seems to have only been a pretext to get the party started.

That night, Estrella and Arnoldo had dinner with family and friends at a restaurant nearby, and then made plans to hit up some nightclubs. Estrella's two children went over to stay with their grandfather in the Marquette Park neighborhood of Chicago, so that the two newlyweds could have the night to themselves.

The newlyweds and their friends drove around in a party limousine, and then went out to a nightclub located on Chicago's North Side. There, they celebrated and hung out with their loved ones until approximately 4:00 AM on May 12th, when they decided to head home. At the time, things seemed to be fine, with Sandy Lopez, Estrella's cousin, telling CNN affiliate WBBN:

"She was happy. She was fine. Did nothing out of the ordinary at all."

Later that day - Saturday, May 12th - Estrella was supposed to pick up her two children from her father's home in Chicago. However, when she failed to show up, members of her family started to grow concerned, knowing that she never failed to show up for her kids.

Members of Estrella's family attempted to get ahold of her but were unable to do so. Some family members headed to her home in Burbank, but received no response at the door, which wasn't much of a surprise, because her vehicle wasn't parked outside.

Police were finally called on Sunday, May 13th - Mother's Day - two days after the wedding. More than 36 hours had passed since Estrella was last seen alive or spoke to any of her family and friends, and it was clear that something had happened to her. She had never been gone from her kids for this long without reaching out to them, and wouldn't leave them hanging on Mother's Day, of all days.

Officers from the Burbank Police Department arrived at Estrella's apartment shortly after 3:30 that afternoon, and were greeted by members of Estrella's family, who had been looking for her for an entire day. Taking this as their cue, officers entered her condo on the third floor of the building and were surprised at how normal things seemed inside. Nothing seemed to be out of place, and there was no indication that the home had been broken into.

However, shortly after 4:00 PM, officers walked into Estrella's bathroom... and there, sadly, they discovered her body in the dry bathtub, still wearing the silver sequin cocktail dress that she had worn the night of her wedding celebration.

In the wake of Estrella Carrera's murder, her loved ones were flummoxed. They had gone from the highest of highs just two days beforehand - Estrella's wedding - and now had to endure the lowest of lows. The person they often counted on to bring a smile to their face was no longer there, and they hadn't had a chance to say goodbye, simply because they hadn't known the end was so near.

Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Estrella's cousin Jaime Lopez stated:

"We never thought this would happen. She was a strong woman... She loved her kids. Reality still hasn't hit me."

Another cousin, Sandy Lopez, said to reporters with CBS News:

"She was a lovely human being, caring, more like a sister to me than a cousin. No idea why somebody would do this to her."

David Raska, one of Estrella's neighbors, told reporters:

"You see this sort of thing in the movies. You never expect it to happen next door."

A large procession preceded Estrella's funeral just days later, which was attended by hundreds of people... family, friends, and everything in-between. The event itself remained closed off to the public and press, for good reason; the family wanted those that had known Estrella to attend the event and get one last chance to celebrate her before they laid her to rest. They did that thing later that day, burying Estrella at the Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum, where she remains today.

Investigators at the crime scene were unable to find any sign of forced entry, nor evidence of anything being noticeably out-of-place. There was no broken glass, nor proof that anything was missing, indicating that robbery had not played a motive in the crime.

An autopsy of Estrella Carrera's body was conducted the day after she was found, on Monday, May 14th, 2012. This autopsy confirmed what investigators theorized after observing the crime scene - that Estrella had been stabbed to death - but determined that she had been stabbed eighteen times in total. Whoever had done this had wanted her dead... this had been no accident. Captain Joseph Ford of the Burbank Police Department would describe the crime as "a very brutal killing."

However, at the crime scene itself - not only the bathroom, but Estrella's apartment - investigators were able to find no evidence of blood spatter whatsoever. It seemed to them that Estrella had been murdered elsewhere, and then brought inside; likely dragged or carried into the apartment and then laid down in the bathtub, where her body was found more than a day later. Because she was still wearing the silver sequin dress she had been wearing when she was last seen by family and friends, it was possible that she was murdered shortly after leaving the nightclub on the morning of May 12th.

It was noticeable to many that the person she had last been seen with - her new husband, Arnoldo Jimenez - was nowhere to be found.

When talking to family members and friends of the two newlyweds, investigators discovered that in the early morning hours of May 12th, while Estrella and Arnoldo were still out at the nightclub, a conversation between the two had turned a bit heated. Surveillance footage recovered from right outside the nightclub captured an incident where both had gone outside and were arguing rather pointedly with one another. While things didn't get violent in this footage, the body language between the two was noticeably different than it had been just a few hours beforehand, as the two were visibly upset with one another.

The surveillance footage ends with the two newlyweds crossing the street and getting into Arnoldo's black Maserati, with the flipping a U-turn and heading off, presumably back to Estrella's condo. This would be the last known time that Estrella was seen alive.

In the hours that followed the discovery of Estrella Carrera's body, investigators investigated her death as a domestic-related incident. The classification of her death as a homicide the next day cemented that, as did the evidence that police began obtaining.

Almost immediately, focus turned to Estrella's new husband, Arnoldo Jimenez, who was nowhere to be found. He couldn't be found at his own home, nor could his black Maserati, which he had last been seen in (along with Estrella, whose body was found in her own bathtub).

Family members of Estrella would claim that on the day Estrella's body was found, Arnoldo had broken his silence by calling his sister. Coincidentally, she was the person that had called police, asking them to perform a wellness check on Estrella. Arnoldo had told his sister, as recounted by Jazmin Carrera to the AP:

"She said that he was crying and he was really nervous. He said they had a really bad fight and he had left her bleeding."

Arnoldo had reportedly hung up on his sister during the phone call, and refused to answer when she called back, resulting in her reaching out to police to check in on her new sister-in-law.

When investigators tried to learn more about the relationship between Estrella and Arnoldo, they learned that the couple's tumultuous three-year relationship had featured violence in the past. While none of these incidents had been reported to police, it was learned that Estrella had, at one point, pursued a protective order against Arnoldo, but this was likely abandoned at some point prior to her obtaining a marriage license. Yet Jazmin Carrera, Estrella's sister, later told reporters that Arnoldo had hit Estrella in the past, leaving behind visible bruises that she couldn't explain away. She also described Arnoldo as "very possessive" and jealous, a sentiment that was shared by many members of Estrella's family.

Sandy Lopez, one of her cousins, told reporters that she didn't approve of the relationship. Regarding Arnoldo Jimenez, she stated:

"He's just a person that had problems."

Based on public comments, it seems like most of Estrella's family disapproved of her relationship to Arnoldo and didn't particularly like him as a human being. This might have been why the wedding came about so quickly... maybe Estrella was afraid of the reaction she'd receive from her loved ones, or perhaps didn't want to be talked out of her decision. Maybe, even, Arnoldo had pushed for the marriage, and Estrella felt scared to push back on it because of his propensity for violence.

In a CBS News article published on May 19th - just six days after Estrella's body was found - her friend, Altrisha Sitko claimed she had spoken with Estrella just two days before the murder, on May 9th, stating:

"She was saying the reason she was getting married is that he was going to take her kids from her. She was really scared, and that was the last time I talked to her."

It seems like, for whatever reason, Estrella had decided to go through with the wedding, perhaps in the hope that being married would fix things with Arnoldo. And for the first several hours after their ceremony, things seemed to go well, with most of the family members and friends celebrating with them unable to recount any moments of disagreement between the two newlyweds. Burbank Police Captain Joseph Ford told reporters with the AP:

"And we have no indications the two were arguing at any time during the (Friday and early Saturday) celebration."

Within days of the gruesome discovery of Estrella Carrera's body, Burbank Police would reach out to the FBI to obtain their assistance in the hunt for her husband, Arnoldo Jimenez.

Jimenez, the chief suspect in the case - the only suspect, really, at this point - had disappeared at around the same time that Estrella had been killed and hadn't been since in the Chicago area by any reliable witnesses since the morning of Saturday, May 12th (when he'd been seen leaving a North Side nightclub alongside his new bride). Police believed that he'd fled the area shortly after the killing, possibly fleeing outside of the state... maybe even the country.

A press release by the Burbank Police Department, issued shortly after the crime, read in part:

"This investigation is still ongoing and will continue until Mr. Jimenez is in custody for this brutal murder. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Estrella Carrera and especially her small children."

At around the same time, Burbank Police Captain Joseph Ford told reporters, referring to their ongoing hunt for Arnoldo Jimenez:

"Well, he's had a head start. He does have family in the area. He does have kids in the area. That always keeps you tied to the area. Could he have left? Sure. We're taking precautions to prevent (him) leaving the country, but our contiguous borders - Canada and Mexico - it's pretty easy to get out of the country."

"We do not believe Jimenez is a danger to others, but we certainly do not know his mind frame at the present time."

Arnoldo Rangel Jimenez was born on February 19th, 1982, in Texas, but would grow up on the Southwest Side of Chicago, eventually settling with his family in the Brighton Park area. At the time of his wedding to Estrella Carrera in 2012, he was living along the 4200 block of South Mozart Street in Chicago itself.

When police began attempting to learn more about Arnoldo, they discovered a checkered criminal history that pointed to disturbing traits. In 2003, he had been charged with domestic battery by another girlfriend, years before meeting Estrella; however, the complaining witness didn't show up for court, and as a result, the charges were later dropped. The following year, 2004, he had been convicted for deceptive practice, a misdemeanor (like fraud).

Then, in 2007, he had been arrested on multiple drug charges alongside his brother, Humberto. This information wasn't widely circulated at the time of the murder, likely due to some ongoing investigations that we'll touch upon in a bit. However, these drug charges may have shed some light on Arnoldo's day-to-day activities.

While Estrella told her family and friends that Arnoldo worked in construction, they always had their doubts, as laid out in an episode of "In Pursuit with John Walsh." They claimed that he likely worked in the drug trade in some capacity, which explained how he lived the high life that he did, always able to afford the nicer things in life... such as a valuable car.

Arnoldo had presumably disappeared with this vehicle, a black 2006 Maserati sedan, and had ample time to leave the area after Estrella's murder, which likely took place early on Saturday morning. Her body wasn't found by police until the following afternoon, giving him more than 24 hours head start to get out of the region, with police cautioning that Jimenez "could be anywhere and we are following all leads."

At the time, Arnoldo owned a piece of property in Pharr, Texas, located right on the Mexican border, near the Rio Grande. He also had family in North Carolina that investigators wanted to check in on. Locations like this - far away from Chicago - required the cooperation of the FBI with dozens of smaller jurisdictions.

A first-degree murder warrant was issued for the arrest of Arnoldo Jimenez less than two days after Estrella's body was found, May 15th, and two days after that - May 17th - the FBI issued an unlawful flight warrant, allowing them even more discretion in their hunt for the fugitive that had fled Illinois after murdering his wife.

Because of his prior ties to the state of Texas, it was believed that he might have fled there first and was likely planning a trip to the Mexican border.

When police got Arnoldo's cell phone records, they discovered that his cell phone had been traveling southbound quickly after Estrella's death. On May 12th - the day after his wedding - he had traveled from Chicago to southern Illinois, and show repeated use in Memphis, Tennessee, and even Arkansas. The following day, May 13th - when Estrella's body had been found - his cell phone pinged in Houston, Texas, and then again later that evening, at approximately 10:45 PM - approximately seven hours after Estrella's body was found - in Hidalgo, a town right on the Mexican border.

Using this information, police had started talking to Arnoldo's friends and family, and one confessed that they had spoken to Arnoldo before he fled Chicago. According to this acquaintance, Arnoldo told them that if anyone asked questions about his whereabouts - even the police - to say that he had gone to Mexico.

Despite disappearing in his 2006 Maserati, investigators didn't believe he'd fled the area in it; a vehicle like that would be too recognizable and would have popped up on some highway or traffic cams somewhere between Chicago and the border. Speaking to this, Burbank Police Captain Joseph Ford told the press:

"We are still actively searching for the 2006 Maserati but we don't believe Jimenez is currently using it for transportation."

Within a week of the murder, it was believed that Arnoldo Jimenez had managed to make his way to the Mexican state of Durango; in particular, to Santiago Papasquiaro, a city of approximately 50,000 people in central Mexico, approximately 2.5 hours northwest of Durango, where he would have the support of some local family members.

Sadly, the case would disappear from the press quickly afterward, with investigators surmising that the killer, Arnoldo Jimenez, had successfully fled the country. However, the story would resurface again a handful of months later, when a chance discovery proved to be one of the final missing puzzle pieces left in the ongoing investigation.

In October of 2012, nearly five months later, it was announced that the vehicle belonging to 30-year-old Arnoldo Jimenez had been recovered: the black 4-door 2006 Maserati that hadn't been since he disappeared shortly after the murder of Estrella Carrera.

Coincidentally, this vehicle had been found in a garage belonging to his brother, Humberto Jimenez, whose Brighton Park home was raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the waning days of September. Humberto stood accused of helping run a drug distribution network which moved kilos of cocaine throughout multiple stash houses in the Chicago region. The DEA had been surveilling him for months, before even Estrella's murder had taken place, and had even recorded him making incriminating statements on a few occasions.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the DEA had been listening in on Humberto's multiple cell phones, which numbered at least six in total. In the court documents filed that charged Humberto with helping operate the drug distribution ring, they laid out that on May 13th - the day Estrella Carrera's body was found - Humberto had told someone on the phone "there's been an emergency" and later referred to a "huge problem" that he had to help take care of.

At the time, Humberto's cell phone had also been traveling south from Chicago, then headed to Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. It was believed that he had traveled south with Arnoldo, then dropped him off at the Mexican border before returning to the Chicago area. Months later, police had discovered Arnoldo's partially covered 2006 Maserati in Humberto's garage, indicating that this hunch by investigators had been correct.

The vehicle, which was quickly found and identified as Arnoldo's, was analyzed thoroughly in the days to come. Inside, investigators had found numerous blood stains, which someone had evidently tried to clean up afterward. Because of this amount of blood, it was quickly theorized that the conflict between Estrella and Arnoldo had started in there - perhaps an argument of some kind that got heated - and was then escalated by Arnoldo Jimenez.

It is believed that Arnoldo murdered Estrella inside the vehicle shortly after leaving the Chicago nightclub, and then dragged or carried her into her Burbank apartment, where her body was later found by police. As described by FBI Special Agent Steve Barnard of the Chicago Field Office:

"We believe she was stabbed in the vehicle and then dragged back into the apartment and left bleeding in the bathtub."

Police refused to say whether or not the murder weapon was ever recovered but did admit that there was a "plethora of evidence" inside of the vehicle, and that the hiding of Arnoldo's Maserati in his brother's garage indicated that he had received assistance from members of his family. As stated by Captain Joseph Ford of Burbank P.D. to the Chicago Tribune:

"Obviously, he's getting assistance from some family members. We're sort of tying their hands here in the Chicagoland area now. There's pressure on the family."

Arnoldo Jimenez, who would have turned forty years old earlier this year (2022), stands around six feet tall and weighed approximately 220 pounds at the time of his disappearance. He has black hair and brown eyes, and his appearance has likely changed in the years since. Not only has he gotten a decade older, but he's likely tried to change certain aspects of his appearance to remain unidentified.

On May 8th, 2019 - nearly seven years after Estrella's murder - Arnoldo was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was the 522nd fugitive to be placed on the list, and he remains there to this day.

Arnoldo is still believed to be hiding out in the Mexican state of Durango, which investigators started publicly theorizing more than a decade ago. As stated by Burbank Police Captain Joe Ford to CBS News:

"That's where his family is from. His parents are there and a bunch of relatives are there - in a town called La Campana in the state of Durango... We know he's traveled there on several occasions in the past."

However, it's also possible that he is hiding out in Reynosa, a city in northern Tamaulipas, right across the border from Hidalgo, Texas. I also noted that on the FBI's website, they theorize that he might be in the U.S. Southwest somewhere, possibly living under an assumed name. He has been known to operate under a couple of aliases - neither of which are particularly clever, just alterations of his real name - Arnoldo Gimenez (Gimenez instead of Jimenez) and Arnoldo Rochel Jimenez (a different middle name). It's also possible that he's used the name Manuel Reyes, so just think, and try to remember if any of these names ring a bell.

Because of his alleged work in the drug trade and his brother's known connections, it's possible that Arnoldo has a link to the cartels that operate in central Mexico. For that reason alone, he is considered armed and dangerous, but he has also shown that he is a violent killer who likely knows that anyone who learns his identity can take away his freedom with a single phone call. For that reason, if anyone thinks these details sound familiar, I encourage you to proceed with immense caution.

Arnoldo Jimenez is still wanted for the murder of his wife, who also happened to be the mother of his child. A reward of up to $100,000 has been offered up for any information leading to his capture, and anyone can claim that reward by contacting the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. You can also reach out to the Chicago Field Office at 312-421-6700. This includes anyone outside of the U.S. - even those in Mexico - but anyone outside of the country can also contact their nearest American Embassy or Consulate. All information can remain anonymous and confidentially is guaranteed by the FBI.

If you think you know something, please reach out and help Estrella's family obtain closure.

Following the announcement that her sister's killer had been added to the FBI's Most Wanted List, Jazmin Carrera told reporters with Chicago's Fox 8 News:

"Being place(d) on the FBI's TOP 10 is no small feat, so we are very hopeful that this is what's needed to end our search."

She also spoke to ABC 7 News, hoping to keep her sister's memory alive for as long as possible:

"She was a loving daughter, sister, friend, and above all, a great mother. Her children need justice for their mommy. They shouldn't be spending Mother's Day at a mass dedicated to her and sending flowers to the cemetery."

"We know nothing will bring Estrella back, but at least we could have some kind of peace knowing Arnoldo is paying for his crime."

As someone who's spoken to several law enforcement agents in the past, including members of the U.S. Marshals - whose job it is to hunt and find fugitives just like Arnoldo Jimenez - I know that they only usually put significant resources into cases that they think they can solve. The inclusion of Arnoldo onto the FBI's Most Wanted list isn't something that was done on a whim... this was something that was decided upon after a meeting of several agents and officials who pored over the case file and the available evidence.

For that reason, I think it's very possible that federal agents have evidence that Arnoldo Jimenez is still alive, possibly living or hiding out in the areas that the FBI have highlighted in the past. This includes Durango, Mexico, and the southwest United States.

Hopefully, the incentive of $100,000 is enough to catch Arnoldo Jimenez, because the reward for his capture is still active, and can be had by anyone that contacts law enforcement or U.S. officials and helps this case be solved. If you know something - or think you might know something - please reach out and help this case get solved.

Until such a time, the story of Estrella Carrera will remain unresolved.